The Metropolitan Opera announced on Thursday night that the negotiation period with its labor unions has been extended by 72 hours.

The extension came at the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which is leading the negotiations between the Met and two of its largest unions AGMA — representing singers, dancers, stage managers, and directors — and Local 802, which represents orchestra musicians and music staff. Discussions with representatives of Local One, which represents the Met's stagehands, will also continue.

The Met has already reached agreements with three of the fifteen unions whose contracts were slated to expire at midnight on Thursday, July 31: Local 32BJ, which represents ushers, ticket takers, cleaning staff, porters, security guards, and office service workers; Local 210, which represents the company's call center; and Local 30, which represents building engineers.

"We want to work together with union representatives, and do everything we can to achieve new contracts, which is why we've agreed to an extension," the company's general manager Peter Gelb said in a statement released by the Met on Thursday.